The Number of the Beast: K-State 49, Texas Tech 26

Moved: we'll just ignore that third quarter until later in the week, okay?

Excepting a lull which lasted, oh, about 13 minutes, it was all K-State as the Wildcats literally ran all over the Red Raiders for a dominating win in Lubbock.

Pleasantly, the two-headed Jake Waters/Daniel Sams experiment worked to perfection in the first half. Of course, they weren't called on to do much, only attempting six passes (ignoring the ones that were erased due to Tech penalties) and completing all six. Why didn't they have to do much? Because John Hubert ran for over 130 yards in the first half alone, Waters and Sams combined for over 80 with three touchdowns themselves, and Texas Tech just never got things going. Hubert only ended up with 157, and the quarterbacks finiished with 119 between them (81 for Sams, 38 for Waters). Of course, as usual, that doesn't account for sack yardage, which is probably the ultimate difference between the 291 yards the Cats were credited with on the ground and the 300 they actually gained.

As effective as the offense was for most of the game, the story was the defense. The Cats held Tech to a field goal on their opening drive after allowing them first-and-goal. Tech had their way on the second drive, briefly taking a 10-7 lead, but after that the defense did their jobs for the most part. Jace Amaro was quite effectively kept in check, and Ryan Mueller spent the entire game in full-out beast mode. Mueller recorded mutliple sacks for the third time this season, and had a hand in forcing a couple of fumbles, one of which K-State recovered. Ty Zimmerman, who'd left the game twice with shoulder injuries, sealed the game for good with a 43-yard pick-six a minute into the fourth quarter; the Cats scored two touchdowns in the opening minute of the final period.

The most important thing now, looking at the big picture, is that the only thing standing between K-State and that bowl bid some of you were worried about missing out on is Charlie Weis. The Wildcats will probably take care of the problem much sooner, though, and if you think that was a pun you're totally on the money. (Although more seriously, there's no way that TCU beats the K-State team we've seen since the Texas loss, so the bowl should be secure even before that.)

We'll have more detailed analysis of the big win later in the week, naturally. For now, go party. The Wildcats are over .500 for the first time since September.